The Libertarian VP Nominee Says He Will Focus on Blocking Donald Trump

The Libertarian nominee for vice president says he will shift his focus this election season to preventing Donald Trump from winning the White House, rather than helping his running mate Gary Johnson get elected.

Bill Weld, who formerly served as a Republican Governor of Massachusetts, still supports his running mate but says he is now primarily concerned with keeping Trump out of office. “I have had in mind all along trying to get the Donald into third place, and with some tugging and hauling, we might get there,” Weld told the Boston Globe. He has meanwhile called Clinton, whom he worked with as a lawyer in the 1970s, more qualified than anyone to serve as president.

Some of Weld’s supporters say the Libertarian ticket would be stronger if Weld himself were nominated for president and Johnson for VP—especially after Johnson has had major foreign policy stumbles in recent weeks.

Weld plans to tweet about the Vice Presidential debate between Tim Kaine and Mike Pence as he watches on Tuesday night.

“[T]he Board determined that the polling averages called for in the third criterion are as follows: Hillary Clinton (43%), Donald Trump (40.4%), Gary Johnson (8.4%) and Jill Stein (3.2%). Accordingly, Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, and Donald Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence, qualify to participate in the September 26 presidential debate and the October 4 vice-presidential debate, respectively. No other candidates satisfied the criteria for inclusion in the September 26 and October 4 debates. The criteria will be reapplied to all candidates in advance of the second and third presidential debates,” the Commission said in a statement.

Johnson and Stein need to achieve a 15% polling average in order to be included. They both meet the Commission’s other two criteria: they are constitutionally eligible and are on the ballots in enough states to win a theoretical Electoral College majority.

“Bill Weld and I will continue to fight to provide a voice and an alternative for independents, disenfranchised Republicans and Democrats, Millennials and others who aren’t satisfied with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as their options,” Libertarian candidate Johnson said in a statement after the Commission’s announcement. “It is unfortunate that the CPD doesn’t believe such a voice should be heard. There are more polls and more debates, and we plan to be on the debate stage in October.”

Why Utah Doesn’t Like Donald Trump

If there is a heart to the scattershot Never Trump movement, it is probably in Utah.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney has been the spokesman for Republicans who reject Donald Trump, while Sen. Mike Lee is one of the more vocal critics of his campaign in Congress. Trump had one of his worst showings in the Beehive State primary, while a June poll by the Salt Lake Tribune had him basically tied with Hillary Clinton in a place that hasn’t gone for a Democrat since 1964.

Experts say that Trump’s troubles in Utah stem from the religious values of the state’s Mormon population and the candidate’s personal style.

“What is making Donald Trump popular in other states is exactly what’s making him somewhat unpopular here in the state of Utah,” said Jason Perry, director of the Hinckley Institute at the University of Utah. “That straight-talking brashness that has made Donald Trump popular in many parts of the states … is not the kind of politician we usually see in the state of Utah.”

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is neutral in regard to party politics and election campaigns,” the statement said. “However, it is not neutral in relation to religious freedom.”

For now, it seems unlikely that Trump could actually lose Utah. The Tribune poll showed 13% support for former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, who is running on the Libertarian ticket, but pollsters are waryof surveys showing strong third-party support, as voters often stand by their party in the privacy of the ballot booth.

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Johnson’s campaign is based in Salt Lake City, but he told TIME that was largely because his Ron Nielson, who ran his gubernatorial campaigns, set up shop there. For now, he hasn’t made a serious effort to target the state, though he said that may change.

“I think that that will be a strategy that unfolds going forward, but so far there is no strategy,” Johnson told TIME during a recent visit to Washington. “That will change. … I have no doubt that there will be a Utah strategy.”

The Libertarian Party had one of its most high-profile tests in its history on Wednesday night when both members of its 2016 presidential ticket answered questions during a town hall aired on CNN. They might want to ask for a makeup exam.

Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, the party’s nominee for president, and former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, its pick for vice president, fielded queries on issues ranging from taxes to terrorism to legalizing drugs. The results were mixed.

The fact that Johnson and his running mate were able to secure an hour of prime time on CNN is a victory in itself and evidence that interest in the party is great enough that he will likely surpass his 2012 election performance, when he secured roughly 1% of the popular vote.

But given all the obstacles that third party presidential nominees face, Johnson needed to take the opportunity to wow the American public with a convincing vision of how the country would operate differently under a Libertarian president. And by this measure, Johnson failed.

Johnson often hesitates to make a full-throated endorsement of the libertarian vision of significantly smaller government, and on Wednesday he offered more of the same. When asked whether he would replace Obamacare as president, Johnson hedged, saying that he was running for president, and not Congress. “If the GOP bill lowers costs and improves care, I’ll sign it,” Johnson said.

That’s all well and good, but when people vote for a president, they are also voting for a vision for America. Johnson’s answer didn’t leave viewers with much of an impression of what kind of health care system they would be supporting when they pull the lever for Johnson.

In an interview with Fortune last week, Johnson was coy when asked about how he would both eliminate the corporate income tax and present a balanced budget to Congress as his “first major act,” something he promises to do on his campaign website. That will involve cutting hundreds of billions in spending, but he declined to be specific about what he would cut, arguing once again that he was running for president and that Congress is responsible for passing legislation.

That may be true, and it may be an answer that conforms to libertarian principles of limited executive power, but it doesn’t give the American public a strong sense of what Johnson would fight for as president.

Presidents don’t just sign or veto bills. They also lobby Congress, twist arms, and lead public relations pushes for major reforms. Wedensday’s town hall didn’t paint a clear picture of how Johnson would leverage the bully pulpit to shape policy.

The waters were further muddied by the fact that Johnson and his running mate Weld at times gave contradictory answers. When discussing taxes, Johnson argued that if he “could wave a magic wand,” he would eliminate income taxes altogether and move the country to a system where the government is financed by a single sales tax. “Think about how this country would be like without the IRS,” Johnson urged the crowd.

Seconds later, Bill Weld contradicted his running mate, saying that we wouldn’t need to go so far as to abolish the IRS. Well, which is it?

All is not lost for the libertarians this year. They are going up against the two most unpopular major party nominees in recent history. And the unorthodox tactics Donald Trump’s campaign leaves a lot of room for Johnson to grab support from Republican voters, including free market fundamentalists and the business community. But Johnson can’t afford to let another opportunity to clearly explain his vision to a national audience slip away.

Meet the Third-Party Presidential Candidate, Gary Johnson

Former governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson has just won the Libertarian nomination for president.

Johnson’s win was determined at the Libertarian party’s national convention over Memorial Day weekend, ABC reports. He went up against five other candidates and won 55.8% of the vote. His running mate will likely be former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld, though the party seems to be wary of him considering he joined just under two weeks ago and previously endorsed John Kasich for president.

With people flocking to the “Never Trump” and “Never Hillary” camps, Johnson could be a palatable third option come Election Day. Fortune reporter Geoff Colvin has described a Johnson-Weld ticket as “Libertarian Lite” as opposed to “Libertarian Classic,” appealing to those who are fiscally conservative and socially liberal.

Johnson believes in reducing the role of government and allowing the people to make decisions for themselves when it comes to social issues, including marijuana and abortion. His website states that he supports replacing all income and payroll taxes with one consumption tax, and says that his tax reform would render the IRS an unnecessary institution. He says that the federal deficit is the “single greatest threat to our national security,” and boasts having balanced New Mexico’s budget and cultivating an economic environment that allowed growing companies to create jobs.

The third-party candidate is also a successful businessman. Before he became New Mexico’s governor, where he served from 1995 to 2003, he started his own company. Big J. Enterprises was founded in 1976, when Johnson was just 23 years old. It began as a one-person venture, and grew to become one of the largest construction companies in New Mexico. The company, which he sold in 1999, supposedly made him a millionaire.

This won’t be Johnson’s first presidential run. He also ran as a Libertarian in 2012. Though he received just 1% of the vote during that election cycle, and it’s very unlikely that he’ll be voted into office this time around, he could prove to be a disrupting force. ABC notes that a recent Fox News poll showed that he received 10% of the vote in a hypothetical match up against Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Silicon Valley Titan Peter Thiel Is Backing Donald Trump

Donald Trump’s campaign has found a varied crew of supporters in recent months. The most recent addition is Silicon Valley billionaire and venture capitalist Peter Thiel.

Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir and a director at Facebook, is now a Trump delegate in San Francisco, according to a Monday filing.

On the surface it seems like an unlikely alliance. Bad blood has been brewing between Silicon Valley’s top executives and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Trump since the start of the election cycle.

To Trump, Jeff Bezos is a scammer, Mark Zuckerberg is discriminatory, and Apple unpatriotic. On the other side of the ring, Silicon Valley executives including Elon Musk, Larry Page, and Tim Cook have not held back their disdain for the candidate—so much so that the group reportedly met with others in March to mock up a Trump takedown plan—though Elon Musk has denied the meeting.

But upon closer examination, Thiel’s support for Trump is not that odd. His political views have long diverged from the Silicon Valley norm. Thiel, a libertarian, has often made contributions to the Republican Party. He endorsed Mitt Romney for president in 2012 and Ron Paul in 2008. Last summer, Thiel donated $2 million to Carly Fiorina’s super PAC.

When asked in 2012 why he decided to back Ron Paul, Thiel told Slate: “The campaign really is for 2016 … I think we’re just trying to build a libertarian base for the next cycle.”

“It’s an unusually libertarian movement,” he said. “For the first time in perhaps 80 years, we have a chance to move the country in a more libertarian direction, with a less intrusive government, in both social and economic areas.”

And like Trump, Thiel is not shy about throwing provocative ideas out there. He once wrote that freedom and democracy are incompatible. His foundation, the Thiel Fellowship, provides $100,000 to students to drop out of college and pursue other work. He’s also funded a project to build sovereign islands where entrepreneurs can work without government influence.

Fortune has reached out to Thiel and will update this story if he responds.

Welcome to Liberland! The European country with no taxes (or residents)

Make room, Croatia and Serbia! There’s a new micronation in Europe, and it doesn’t care much for Serbia’s probable ownership of the seven square kilometers, or the Croatian police guarding it.

Liberland, the self-proclaimed sovereign state, has big plans. “We need more countries like Hong Kong, Singapore and Monaco, especially in Europe,” Vit Jedlicka, the country’s president and co-founder, told Bloomberg. Jedlicka didn’t run in Liberland’s first presidential election, but he was elected by the two other founders, one of whom is his girlfriend.

In Liberland, all taxes are optional. To make up the difference, the country plans to crowdfund and allow private enterprise to provide public services like water and energy. So far, Jedlicka claims the country has raised $45,000 on a crowdfunding page, which has foot the bill for offices in Prague and Serbia, Jedlicka’s personal assistant, and his trips to the G-7 and Freedom Fest.

The funding hasn’t gone toward any development of Liberland itself, which lies in a crook of the Danube between Serbia and Croatia, because it so far has zero residents. Despite the Liberland Settler’s Association’s attempt to settle the claimed land, Croatian border police have been stopping them regularly.

That hasn’t dissuaded Liberland’s supporters though: so far, the country has received almost 400,000 citizenship applications. With tensions over the European Union and Greece’s debt crisis roiling Europe, it seems like Liberland might have struck a nerve. “With [the possibility of] Great Britain leaving the EU and Greece going bankrupt, this is a little bigger than just this piece of land. We are setting a model for other countries to find a new way to structure societies,” Jedlicka told the Guardian.